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Brian Billman
ANTH | UNC | CH | USA

INTRODUCTION

The white square encloses the Moche Valley and surrounding areas of the northern Peruvian coastal region. This map is a copyrighted image of The Living Earth, Incorporated.

The culture that archaeologists call the Moche flourished along the edge of the Pacific and up the river valleys in the northern Peruvian coastal region from AD 200 to 800. Thus the Moche predate the Wari, Chimu, and Inka empires that reigned across Andean South America from the 11th through 16th centuries AD. Archaeologists have concentrated much effort on elaborate Moche tombs, monumental architecture, and painted pottery--all of which have offered fascinating insights into the lifeways and social dynamics of Moche communities in the several different Andean river valleys in which they developed (Bawden 1996; Donnan 1976; Donnan 1978a; Donnan 1978b; Moseley 1992). Archaeologists have also conducted many regional surveys to reconstruct settlement patterns to complement perspectives on Moche iconography and monuments--the birthplace of settlement archaeology in the Americas was actually one river valley north of the Moche River itself (Billman 1999a; Billman 1999b; Billman 1999c; Donnan 1973; Proulx 1968; Proulx 1973; Wilson 1988; Willey 1953). There is much more to learn, both about these general topics and about the archaeology of individual households, and the way these households fit within the framework of the several different Moche states that formed in the lower and middle reaches of the Lambayeque, Jequetepeque, Chicama, Moche, Virú, Chao, Santa, Nepeña, Casma, and Huarmey rivers. The iconography found painted on Moche stirrup spout pots, inscribed upon metal artifacts, and painted on walls of monuments can contribute much to anthropological knowledge not only about Moche religion and ideology but also about Moche social structures and everyday lifeways. This kind of knowledge is valuable for broader comparative studies of the evolution of empires in the greater Andean region, and in other parts of the world such as Mesopotamia, Mesoamerica, and eastern Asia where primary states developed in the ancient past.

View from outer space of mountains and river valleys along the North Coast, Peru. From top to bottom are the Moche, Virú, Chao, Santa, and Nepeña valleys. This photograph is taken from The Incas and Their Ancestors, written by Michael Moseley (1992:37) and published by Thames and Hudson of London.

These images of stirrup spout vessels (Moche I animal | Moche IV bird | Moche IV head | Moche IV plant | Moche IV stag) are copyrighted by the Rafael Larco Museum in Lima, Peru.